Japanese sounding rocket. The MT-135 was a small single-stage sounding rocket designed to collect data on the middle atmosphere, such as ozone layer depletion.

MT-135 development by the University of Tokyo and the Meteorology Agency began in 1963. Its maiden flight was in July, 1964. Though the initial trials were not completely successful due to rocket instability, the MT-135 became reliable after a series of improvements. From April 1968 a series of comparison flights were carried out from Wallops Island simultaneous with NASA Arcas sounding rockets.

The propellant, a pre-formed grain, polyurethane composite with a low burning rate, was loaded and bonded in the case. The chamber was built up by welding tubes made of chromium-molybdenum steel, and the outer edge of the nozzle was welded to it. The throat insert material was graphite, and the exit cone is made of ablative silica-phenolic FRP. Each tail fin was a solid titanium plate, while the magnesium-alloy tail cylinder was shaped into a boat tail to reduce drag during flight. At 95 seconds after lift-off, the rocket separated into a sonde, a nose cone, and a motor case, and, 17 seconds later, the sonde deployed its parachute to begin a slow descent. The sonde observed temperature, wind speed, and wind direction from 60 km altitude, over a period of 90 minutes. The observational data was reported to the World Meteorology Organization and utilized for long term meteorological forecasts.

Wallops Island Small NASA launch site for sounding rocket launches and occasional Scout launches to orbit. Air launches are conducted from the Drop Zone Wallops Island, 37.00 N 72.0 W. With the last orbital launch in 1985 and the decline in sounding rocket launches, Wallops fell into near-disuse as a launch center. Its fortunes revised with the establishment of Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in 2005 and orbital launches resumed in 2010. More...

Kagoshima Japanese launch center for solid fueled sounding rockets and satellite launchers. Limited to two months a year due to disturbance of local fisheries. More...

Last flight Aeronomy mission - .
Nation: Japan. Agency: ISAS. Apogee: 55 km (34 mi). The Japan Meteorological Agency launched the 1119th MT-135P meteorological sounding rocket from the meteorological observation station in Sanriku-cho, Iwate-ken. This was the final launch of the type. The MT-135P had served for more than thirty years gathering meteorological data in the upper atmosphere since the first launching on July 15, 1970. IHI Aerospace Co., Ltd. has been responsible for design, development and manufacture of the MT-135P.